"Set about" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... By this time, public excitement had gone beyond fever heat and reached the boiling point. Everybody wanted stock. The number of shares subscribed were to be apportioned, if the limit of the capital should be exceeded; and every one set about obtaining proxies. Parents subscribed in the names of their children, and paid the dollar on each share that the rules prescribed. Before even a survey had been made, the possession of stock in any quantity was regarded as a provision for old age; and great ...
— Peter Cooper - The Riverside Biographical Series, Number 4 • Rossiter W. Raymond
... starts with an explanatory "spoken" to the effect that the song he is about to sing illustrates some of the little ways of woman, and how, no matter what you say or do, she is bound to have her own way in the end; also how, in one instance, she set about getting it. ...
— On the Track • Henry Lawson
... They set about the search, but found nobody, and George stopped outside the last building with a ...
— Ranching for Sylvia • Harold Bindloss
... very much as though he had been hailing the "main-top," whereupon the Sergeant emerged from between the clothes-press and the dresser with a black bottle in his hand, which he passed over to Peterday who set about brewing what he called a "jorum o' grog," the savour of which filled the place with a right pleasant fragrance. And, when the glasses brimmed, each with a slice of ...
— The Money Moon - A Romance • Jeffery Farnol
... resinous tears on the doors and windows. It seemed to me that boarding there must seem like a perpetual picnic. As I entered the door, a number of the regular boarders rushed out of a long room, and set about trying to get the taste of something out of their mouths, by the application of tobacco in various forms. A few immediately ranged themselves around the fireplace, with their legs over each other's chairs, and in that position silently resigned themselves ...
— The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales • Bret Harte
... is a sore trial for the Boer to live without coffee, but this national beverage disappeared entirely from our menu, and its loss was only partly replaced by the "mealie coffee" which we set about preparing. The process was a very simple one. As soon as we off-saddled a hundred coffee mills were set to work. The mealie was roasted over a fire and afterwards treated in a similar manner to that by which the coffee bean is prepared. This "mealie coffee" made a very palatable ...
— My Reminiscences of the Anglo-Boer War • Ben Viljoen
... a good lively imagination, and can dream as much to the purpose as another, if I set about it. But dreaming is the poor retreat of a lazy, hopeless, and imperfect lover; 'tis the last glimpse of love to worn-out sinners, and the faint dawning of a bliss to ...
— Love for Love • William Congreve
... should like to ask you," said I, "and it is this. Yesterday afternoon you refused my cordially-offered hospitality, and went away without a sou to bless yourself with. What did you do? I ask out of curiosity. How does a man set about trying to subsist on ...
— The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol • William J. Locke
... stricken sufferers whom it was difficult to get out of the carriages and remove to the hospital, remained waiting. The bearers seemed to become quite bewildered, rushing madly hither and thither with their litters and vehicles, not knowing at what end to set about the profusion of work ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola
... shout into one another's ears, for the whole ice-continent was crashing, popping, thundering everywhere in terrific upheaval. Expecting every moment to see the Boreal crushed to splinters, we had to set about unpacking provisions, and placing sledges, kayaks, dogs and everything in a position for instant flight. It lasted five days, and was accompanied by a tempest from the north, which, by the end of February, had driven us back south into latitude 79 ...
— The Purple Cloud • M.P. Shiel
... is that of broad day in the Piazza and among the luminous waterways of the city. We can see the scene any day now in the wide square, making allowance for the difference of costume. The groups are set about in the ample space, with the wonderful cathedral as a background. St. Mark's has been painted hundreds of times, but no one has ever given such a good idea of it as Gentile—of its stateliness and beauty, of its wealth of detail; and he does so without detracting from the general effect, for ...
— The Venetian School of Painting • Evelyn March Phillipps
... whole truth. As soon as I had left, she set about finding a situation, for she was very clever with her needle and scissors. Her mother could easily do without her, as her elder sister was at home; and her absence would relieve their scanty means. She had been more fortunate than she could have ...
— Adela Cathcart - Volume II • George MacDonald
... in order to assist him in getting on board again. Our poverty, in the article of cordage, was here very conspicuous; for we had not a single coil of rope in the store-room to fix the buoy, but were obliged to set about unreeving the studding-sail geer, the topsail-halliards and tackle-falls for that purpose; and the boat was at this time driving to the southward so fast, that it was not before we had veered away two cables, and almost all our running-rigging, that ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 • Robert Kerr
... When first I set about recording the scenes which occupy these pages, I had no intention of continuing them, except in such stray and scattered fragments as the columns of a Magazine (FOOTNOTE: The Dublin University Magazine.) ...
— The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, Complete • Charles James Lever (1806-1872)
... Creevy could not suppress a small shriek on hearing this, and instantly set about extorting a solemn pledge from Newman that he would use his utmost endeavours to pacify the wrath of Nicholas; which, after some demur, was conceded. They then consulted together on the safest and surest ...
— The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby • Charles Dickens
... little notion of the real magnitude of these difficulties when I set about my task; but I am consoled for my pains and anxiety by observing that none of the multitudinous criticisms with which I have been favoured and, often, instructed, find fault with me on the score of ...
— Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays • Thomas H. Huxley
... of holding a council of war, I did so largely in a figurative sense. Literally, we set about reviving Hicks, with a view to learning from him what had become of Lyn Rowan. He and Bevans undoubtedly knew, and as Bevans persisted in his defiant sullenness, refusing to open his mouth for other purpose than to curse ...
— Raw Gold - A Novel • Bertrand W. Sinclair
... view of farce and pantomime may seem insane to us; but we fear that it is we who are insane. Nothing in this strange age of transition is so depressing as its merriment. All the most brilliant men of the day when they set about the writing of comic literature do it under one destructive fallacy and disadvantage: the notion that comic literature is in some sort of way superficial. They give us little knick-knacks of the brittleness of which they positively boast, although two ...
— The Defendant • G.K. Chesterton
... functionary appeared before him, he bade him without delay set about making a new leg, and directed the mates to see him supplied with all the studs and joists of jaw-ivory (Sperm Whale) which had thus far been accumulated on the voyage, in order that a careful selection of the stoutest, clearest-grained stuff might be ...
— Moby Dick; or The Whale • Herman Melville
... been wrested from the French, the British authorities set about the reform of the civil administration. This was not to be accomplished, however, without a test of strength between the natives and their new masters. An act of treachery soon called the troops into ...
— Across the Equator - A Holiday Trip in Java • Thomas H. Reid
... the courtyard falteringly like one who would steal something but does not know how to set about it, and there he stood at the entrance of the hall, leaning against the lintel, with eyes ...
— The Day of Wrath • Maurus Jokai
... on the Bishop's right-hand, whom she should marry: and this fell out accordingly, within a quarter of a year thereafter. He told also of a covered table, full of varieties of good fare, and their garbs who set about the table. ...
— Miscellanies upon Various Subjects • John Aubrey
... quarter-breed's mind the planting of an independent trading-post upon the very threshold of MacNair's wilderness empire was of far greater importance than the establishment of a school, or mission, or any other institution—especially when the post was one which he himself had set about to control. The man's eyes gleamed and the thin lips smiled as his glance rested momentarily upon the figure of the girl—the unwitting, and therefore the more powerful, weapon that chance had placed in his hands in his battle ...
— The Gun-Brand • James B. Hendryx
... for my husband, my desire would be satisfied. But I shall not persuade him into a proposal by merely looking at him. How shall I set about making ...
— Eastern Shame Girl • Charles Georges Souli
... not end with this visit. He at once set about procuring a place where Claude might stay, and would have done the same kind office to Pere Michel, had not the priest declined. He had a place where he could stay with one of the priests of the town, ...
— The Lily and the Cross - A Tale of Acadia • James De Mille
... with her chickens about her can symbolize the content I felt on getting my scattered companies together, after some temporary separation on picket or fatigue duty. Then we went to work upon the nest. The only way to keep a camp in order is to set about everything as if you expected to stay there forever; if you stay, you get the comfort of it; if ordered away in twenty-four hours, you forget all wasted labor in the excitement of departure. Thus viewed, a camp is a sort of model ...
— Army Life in a Black Regiment • Thomas Wentworth Higginson
... to the Island, at once set about accomplishing his desire. There were many easy ways of doing this. The pleasantest was to dine luxuriously at some expensive restaurant; and then, after declaring insolvency, be handed over quietly and without uproar to a policeman. An ...
— The Four Million • O. Henry
... settlement, the colonists set about the work of building their houses, but found that their total number of one hundred and five was made up in the proportion of four carpenters to forty-eight "gentlemen." Not inadequately provisioned for their work, they came repeatedly almost to perishing ...
— A History of American Christianity • Leonard Woolsey Bacon
... I will set about them at once. And, by way of a start, I think we will 'blind' the skylights; as I fully agree with Roberts that there is no especial advantage in revealing four whereabouts to anybody to-night. Nothing but a steamer could run us ...
— The Cruise of the "Esmeralda" • Harry Collingwood
... Grodno and identified as that of the four year old daughter of a Grodno resident, Mary Adamovich. Rumors were spread among the superstitious Christian populace to the effect that the girl had been killed for ritual purposes, and the police, swayed by these rumors, set about to find the culprit among the Jews. Suspicion fell on a member of the Grodno Kahal, Shalom Lapin, whose house adjoined that of the Adamovich family. The only "evidence" against him were a hammer and a pike ...
— History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume II • S.M. Dubnow
... entered with great spirit. Shaking hands all round, and introducing Fanny, she hastily threw off her bonnet and shawl, and bidding Viny unpack the things, she set about dressing in ...
— A Budget of Christmas Tales by Charles Dickens and Others • Various
... up with a start. This was not detective work. This was mere idle speculation. I must shake it off, and set about collecting some ...
— The Gold Bag • Carolyn Wells
... Saint-Aignan, "I cannot, even myself, tell very well how I must set about attaining success; but I have every reason to ...
— The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three - Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" • Alexandre Dumas
... between Heaven and Earth, and this World and the Next, on the wings of a poetical expression, that might serve indifferently for either. Omar was too honest of Heart as well of Head for this. Having failed (however mistakenly) of finding any Providence but Destiny, and any World but This, he set about making the most of it; preferring rather to soothe the Soul through the Senses into Acquiescence with Things as he saw them, than to perplex it with vain disquietude after what they might be. It ...
— Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam • Omar Khayyam
... their insecurity, or else they had such an appetite for treachery and murder, that they were driven on to commit further crimes. A report was set about that Edward of Caernarvon was still living in Corfe Castle, and one of his actual murderers, Maltravers, offered the unfortunate Edmund of Kent to convey letters from him to his brother; nay, it was arranged, for his further deception, that he should peep into a dungeon ...
— Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II • Charlotte Mary Yonge
... in one of these places a little garden, fenced in by the fallen rocks, a spring of so clear and cool a water, and the whole so shaded by, oaks, so warmed by the sun, and so superlatively romantic, that I was determined to find out the owner of it, and have set about building a house or a hut to the garden, and to have made it my abode; but, alas! upon enquiry, I found the well was a holy one, and that the water, the purest and finest I ever saw or tasted could only be used for holy purposes. And here let me observe, that the generality of ...
— A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, 1777 - Volume 1 (of 2) • Philip Thicknesse
... country meadows, pearl'd with dew, And set about with lilies; There, filling maunds with cowslips, you May find ...
— A Selection From The Lyrical Poems Of Robert Herrick • Robert Herrick
... away. In half an hour he had the satisfaction of seeing the carriage roll down his avenue with a very disappointed young lady frowning at the broad back of the coachman. Then he set about seeing what he ...
— A Coin of Edward VII - A Detective Story • Fergus Hume
... much," said he with easy unconcern. "The feller who did it was used to mendin' jewelry an' knew just how to set about it, so it didn't put him out of his ...
— Flood Tide • Sara Ware Bassett
... discomposed, but at once he sent for the house-physician, summoned the Sister and the nurse, and set about his third attempt to revive his patient. He got the bed turned north and south. He carefully explained to the two women what was demanded of them, and applied them to their task; but, whatever the cause, the failure was completer than before: there was not even a tremor of muscle in the ...
— Master of His Fate • J. Mclaren Cobban
... and to hear of the evil deed which this captain planned, and he showed him much favour. The captain disappeared after some days from where Narsenayque was, feigning to have fled; and he came to Penagumdy, where in a few days his arrival was known; and he set about and put in hand all those things that had been arranged. Every day he showed the King a letter, one day from a captain of one fortress, the next day another from another captain; and the King, understanding the plots ...
— A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar; A Contribution to the History of India • Robert Sewell
... that very summer, when I received so serious a blow to my ecclesiastical views from the study of the Monophysite controversy. These men cut into the original Movement at an angle, fell across its line of thought, and then set about turning that line in its own direction. They were most of them keenly religious men, with a true concern for their souls as the first matter of all, with a great zeal for me, but giving little certainty at the time as to which way they would ultimately turn. Some in the event have remained firm ...
— Apologia pro Vita Sua • John Henry Newman
... and neatly hemmed. Shortly afterwards a number of earnest young men wearing tall collars and an air of exaggerated innocence sought to cross various frontiers and were surprised and offended when rough and rude officials stole their collars and set about taking ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, October 6, 1920 • Various
... to hear the ordinary cool tone of his own voice, for he was shuddering uncontrollably, and was almost sobbing. In a shaking, bewildered, disordered condition he set about fulfilling his purpose. He was hardly conscious of anything he did; try as he would, he could not keep his hands steady in the violent spasms of shuddering, nor could he call his mind to think. He was one shuddering turmoil. Yet he performed his purpose ...
— The Trespasser • D.H. Lawrence
... Tener at once on the alert, and as Mr. Burke of Cloondadauv was set down for eviction, it didn't require much cogitation to fix upon the fortress destined to be "stormed." So he set about the campaign. The County Inspector of the constabulary, who had made a secret reconnaissance, reported that he found the place too strong to be taken if defended, except "by artillery." So it was determined to ...
— Ireland Under Coercion (2nd ed.) (2 of 2) (1888) • William Henry Hurlbert
... themselves, for it comes to this [illegible in MS.] since we have not the fulness and abundance that there is in Espana. I have already asked this from your Lordship at other times, as being one who was under such obligations to set about it, as well for the good of the souls as for the temporal good of the king and of his encomenderos, by selecting and distributing ministers in order that thus religious instruction may be communicated and spread. For this the following [illegible ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume VIII (of 55), 1591-1593 • Emma Helen Blair
... he would bestow her in marriage upon a gentleman of right good worship and estimation. To this she agreed, on condition that she might have such a husband as herself should ask, without presumption to any member of his family; which he readily granted. This done, she set about her task, and before the eight days were passed he was entirely well; whereupon he told her she deserved such a husband as herself should choose, and she declared her choice of Beltramo, saying she had loved him from her childhood. The King was very loth to grant him to her; but, because he would ...
— Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. • H. N. Hudson
... fool because I had not foreseen it all along—I perceived that the odds were not wholly against me, after all. I had, at least, a sea-worthy boat in which to make my venture, and therefore was as well off as I had hoped to be when I had set about looking for one; and if the plan that I had formed worked out in practice—if I could manage to force a passage through the tangle by alternately working over the bow of my boat to break up the weed, and over the sides to pole my boat forward—I ...
— In the Sargasso Sea - A Novel • Thomas A. Janvier
... fog was a particularly fortunate circumstance, and with grim haste they set about taking advantage of the mask that would hide their advance. In single file they began their march down the river shore. There were men who bore cant dogs; others were armed with pike poles. But there was no intent to cut and thrust. It was to be a man's fight with the flat of those ...
— Joan of Arc of the North Woods • Holman Day
... out of society until the proper time, and that time seems no nearer now than ever. If uncle and aunt loved me, it would be different, but they have just got a stiff set of ideas about their duty to me and another set about my duty to them. Why, uncle laughed at a kitten the other day because it was kittenish, but he has always wanted me to behave with the solemnity of an old cat. Oh, dear! I'm SO tired. ...
— Miss Lou • E. P. Roe
... and a thick cushion for the long bunk. She'd showed a good deal of invention; you see there was a nice chance to pick up pieces o' wood and boards that drove ashore, and she'd made good use o' what she found. There wasn't no clock, but she had a few dishes on a shelf, and flowers set about in shells fixed to the walls, so it did look sort of homelike, though so lonely and poor. I couldn't keep the tears out o' my eyes, I felt so sad. I said to myself, I must get mother to come over an' see Joanna; the love in mother's ...
— The Country of the Pointed Firs • Sarah Orne Jewett
... but she knew that Diavolo would scorn her if she did; and the outcome of all this vagueness of intention was a fit of excessive irritability. She wanted sympathy, but without being aware of the fact herself, and the way she set about obtaining it was by being excessively disagreeable to everybody. There was a rose in a glass beside her plate, and she took it out, and began to twiddle it between her fingers and thumb impatiently, till she managed to prick herself with the ...
— The Heavenly Twins • Madame Sarah Grand
... whose personal attractions are not, by themselves, calculated to bring them? No, he prefers, the selfish wretch! to seek and choose for himself—first, to look about and determine to which of all the strange faces in the room he would wish to be introduced, and then to set about finding out means of getting ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 • Various
... is unknown. But, on the third of October, Montferrand having given out that he had received from the king a roll of names of forty of the chief men of the place, whom he was commissioned to put to death without judge or trial, set about his bloody work. Persistently refusing to exhibit his warrant, for three days the governor butchered the citizens at will.[1134] One member of parliament, against whom he bore a personal grudge, he stabbed with his own hand. The ...
— History of the Rise of the Huguenots - Volume 2 • Henry Baird
... Recognized Damaris' attitude of valour, and inwardly applauded it, although himself in woeful state. For he was hard hit, badly upset. Conscious of waste of tissue, he set about to restore it without apology or hesitation, trouble putting an edge to appetite in his case also, and that of formidable keenness. Bitterly he grieved, since bearing the patient, he feared very certainly to lose, an uncommon affection. He ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... rest, in the fear of disgrace and of hunger. The terms "special teachers," "grades of pay," "constructive work," "discipline," etc., had no special significance to him, typifying merely the exactions of the mill, the limitations set about ...
— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick
... which constitutes progress, and this involves the activity of his will-power. Man is not a slave to his environment. He is not a passive creature acted upon by sun and storm and subjected to the powers of the elements. True, that there are set about him limitations within which he must ever act. Yet from generation to generation he forces back these limits, enlarges the boundary of his activities, increases the scope of his knowledge, and brings a larger number of the forces of nature in ...
— History of Human Society • Frank W. Blackmar
... probably first fortified. Whatever the earliest protections were, we know that in 1072 William the Conqueror, on his way from Scotland, passed through Durham. He quickly perceived the natural advantages and strength of the position, and gave orders for the erection of a castle. This was at once set about, during the episcopacy of Bishop Walcher, and continued under Carileph and Flambard. Of this building, which might be styled "The Conqueror's Castle," not much remains. The most important is the ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Durham - A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See • J. E. Bygate
... I am, therefore, of opinion that you should abandon your intention of destroying Nambanji.' Nobunaga in consequence regretted exceedingly his previous action with regard to the Christian religion, and set about thinking how he ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 9 • Various
... Sussex, and Hampshire (all which lye contiguous to one another), being one inexhaustible storehouse of timber, never to be destroyed, but by a general conflagration, and able, at this time, to supply timber to rebuild all the royal navies in Europe, if they were all to be destroyed, and set about the ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 6. Saturday, December 8, 1849 • Various
... when dollars were scanty we had to be whatever we could. There wasn't much specialisation of handicrafts out there then. The farmer whose crop was ruined took up the railroad shovel, or borrowed a saw from somebody and set about building houses, or ...
— Hawtrey's Deputy • Harold Bindloss
... soft dough, set in a warm place to rise to tops of pans, and when quite light bake in a medium hot oven about 25 minutes. The oven should be hot enough to allow them to rise quickly. Put something underneath the pans in the oven to prevent bottom of cakes from burning. These may be set about 8 o'clock in the morning if cakes are wished for lunch at noon. These are not cheap, as this quantity makes only 12 cakes, but they are light as puffballs. The Professor's wife served them when she gave a "Kaffee Klatch." She doubled the recipe, baked the cakes ...
— Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit - among the "Pennsylvania Germans" • Edith M. Thomas
... I've known that things were to be done; but I haven't known how to set about them, or where to begin. Don't you think we may be able to ...
— The Side Of The Angels - A Novel • Basil King
... nations made an alliance their gods were included in it. To overcome the Assyrians, therefore, it would be necessary to make an alliance with some other nation whose gods were very powerful. So the people of Jehovah began to "strike hands with the children of foreigners." The rulers of Jerusalem set about making coalitions with the other nations of western Asia: with the Philistines, the Syrians, the Phoenicians and, most of all, the Egyptians. The gods of the Egyptians were supposed to be especially strong: Osiris and Isis were the chief of their deities and they were believed ...
— Hebrew Life and Times • Harold B. Hunting
... mind revolve, dwelling most of all on that promise made so long ago; and as she realized the possibility of her never being able to fulfil it at all, she became possessed with a feverish desire to get up that very moment and set about it. If—if—ah, supposing she were to run away—Aunt Therese is not here now, and she would not be afraid of the other nuns finding her, she would hide herself too well for that—supposing she were to run away, go to Spa, make the fortune, and then ...
— My Little Lady • Eleanor Frances Poynter
... desire to comply, but his nerves had not yet been excited by the usual potations, and his hands shook in a way to render it questionable whether he could perform even this simple service. But for his daughter, indeed, he would hardly have set about it intelligently. Mildred, accustomed to using the signal-halyards, procured the old line, and handed it to her father, who discovered some of his professional knowledge in his manner of using it. Doubling the ...
— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper
... With these words, Nathan set about collecting dried logs and branches, which former floods had strown in great abundance along the rocks; and dragging them into the cove, he soon set them in a cheerful blaze. He then drew forth his stores of provender—the corn and dried meat he had ...
— Nick of the Woods • Robert M. Bird
... were a maltese cat, a canary bird, and two raw recruits from Erin; and the "foolish boy" at once set about assigning places ...
— Idle Hour Stories • Eugenia Dunlap Potts
... Mr. Arnold did, proposed to Mr. Adams, of Fleet-street, then astronomical instrument maker to the king, (by whom Mr. Watson was employed,) to get Watson to make an instrument in opposition to Herschel's. The order being given by Adams, Watson set about the work, and had made some progress in the construction of the instrument, when the circumstance found its way to the ears of royalty. Orders were immediately sent to Mr. Adams to put a stop to the work, or he should no ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 12, Issue 330, September 6, 1828 • Various
... indignantly, and was on the point of threatening to leave the place, when a moment's reflection showed her that she didn't know where to go, and remembering she was not as brave in the darkness and in the woods as in Boston, she meekly set about the search for dry twigs and sticks. Flinging down the bundle near the heap Trenton had already collected, the young woman ...
— One Day's Courtship - The Heralds Of Fame • Robert Barr
... 102. I have set about fortifying this city; but this work is not yet completed, as the site is large, and I would not leave the friars outside, from whom we all receive our instruction; moreover, we have had so much work and hardship, and the Indians help ...
— The Philippine Islands 1493-1898, Vol. 4 of 55 - 1576-1582 • Edited by E. H. Blair and J. A. Robertson
... and the ropes returned, much more speedily this time. Four, and four again, were drawn up to safety. There were left the captain, Hozier, and the unhappy Watts, who was now crying because the skipper had "set about" him, just for singin' ...
— The Stowaway Girl • Louis Tracy
... music. Another young man, who was in love with the girl, grew jealous of the monk, who was allowed to converse so familiarly with her, whilst he, her lay admirer, could only have stolen glimpses of her as she passed to church or to public spectacles. He set about the ruin of his supposed rival with cunning atrocity; and, finding that the young woman was infirm in health, suborned a physician, as worthless as himself, to declare that she was pregnant. Her credulous father, without inquiring whether the intelligence was true ...
— The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch • Petrarch
... are saying is all double Dutch to me," cried the rector, hoarsely. "You don't mean to tell me that the bank people have set about that cock-and-bull story of repudiated checks? I told them they were wrong. I ...
— The Scarlet Feather • Houghton Townley
... triumphant, and she immediately set about celebrating her victory. " Men never see those things," she said to her husband. " Men never see those things. You would have gone on forever without finding out that your-your- hospitality was, being abused by ...
— Active Service • Stephen Crane
... by the stove, cogitating how he should best set about finding Nicholas to explain the failure of their mission.... What was that? Voices from the other side. The opposite door opened and a man appeared, with Nicholas and his father close behind, looking anything but cast down or ...
— The Magnetic North • Elizabeth Robins (C. E. Raimond)
... a dozen negatives which I set about developing after Craig had used up all our films. Meanwhile, he busied himself adjusting his microscope and test-tubes and getting the agar slides ready ...
— The Silent Bullet • Arthur B. Reeve
... offended. I addressed her and she turned away from him. I had not presumption enough to suppose I could win a maiden's heart where he was my rival, but I thought that, aided by the coquetry of Estelle, I could help to torture the victim—and I set about it; nay, further, I confess that as she leaned her little ear, which peeped out from a cluster of dark curls, toward my flattering whisper, I fancied that she inclined it with pleasure; but, then, the next moment ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 1 July 1848 • Various
... of the exalted has always been associated with late breakfasts. On this memorable occasion, however, duty and a bell-boy called him; and at the extraordinary hour to which he has referred he arose and set about his investigations. ...
— Punchinello Vol. 1, No. 21, August 20, 1870 • Various
... received notice from the Danish Cabinet that they wished the congress to be postponed. This action caused Brask to suspect that Fredrik's sole object was to use up time. Whatever Fredrik's object, the congress could not be held without him. Gustavus therefore postponed it till the end of April, and set about raising ...
— The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa • Paul Barron Watson
... ready whenever you say so. If it's to overturn Brooklyn Bridge, I'll set about it for ...
— The Wheel of Life • Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow
... these marks of approbation, and reposing too much confidence in the individual good will of the Pope, without heeding the crowd of half-declared enemies who were seeking to undermine his reputation, he set about, after his return to Florence, his greatest literary and most popular work, Dialogues on the Ptolemaic and Copernican Systems. This purports to be a series of four conversations between three characters: Salviati, a Copernican philosopher; Sagredo, ...
— Pioneers of Science • Oliver Lodge
... a huge and most wondrous place well named the "House of Gold." For here everything was gold. On the western wall hung an image of the Sun twenty feet or more across, an enormous graven plate of gold set about with gems and having eyes and teeth of great emeralds. The roof, too, and the walls were all panelled with gold, even the cornices and column heads were of ...
— The Virgin of the Sun • H. R. Haggard
... none presumed to call in question. This important step secured, with the assistance of a man of law whom he brought with him for the purpose, the dwarf proceeded to establish himself and his coadjutor in the house, as an assertion of his claim against all comers; and then set about making his quarters comfortable, after his ...
— The Old Curiosity Shop • Charles Dickens
... prepare dinner. We loaned our horses to the wrangler and another man, the remuda was brought in, and before we sat down to the midday meal, every vaquero had a horse under saddle, while two of them had ridden away to look after the grazing cattle. With order restored, we set about systematically to lay away the unfortunate man. A detail of vaqueros under Cederdall prepared a grave on the nearest knoll, and wrapping the corpse in a tarpaulin, we buried him like a sailor at ...
— The Outlet • Andy Adams
... piece of sea mystery to which we had no clew. So we debated it for an hour, and then set about the more important work of salvaging the stranded derelict. Fortunately she went ashore near the last of the ebb, and now lay comfortably in the mud, apparently little damaged except for some long scratches on her side, ...
— The Valley of Vision • Henry Van Dyke
... which were now taking were criminal and rebellious, and dreading the injurious consequences which they would necessarily produce in Peru, came to the resolution of abandoning the party of Gonzalo and offering their services to the viceroy. They immediately set about executing this design, and went by long journeys through unfrequented ways in the deserts and mountains, lest Gonzalo might order them to be pursued, which he actually did. The principal persons in this defection were Gabriel de Roias, and Gomez ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. IV. • Robert Kerr
... "Peter Petrovitch," I continued, "can you not do ANYTHING?" Still he maintained silence, and seemed not to have heard me. I waited and waited. At length I determined to make a final attempt, and plucked him by the sleeve. He muttered something, and, his pen mended, set about his writing. There was nothing for me to do but to depart. He and the rest of them are worthy fellows, dearest—that I do not doubt— but they are also proud, very proud. What have I to do with them? Yet I thought I would write and tell you all about it. Meanwhile ...
— Poor Folk • Fyodor Dostoyevsky
... per cent. on dutiable for 1833, and 16 per cent. on total to 32 per cent. on dutiable for 1841. The conjunction of the increase in non-dutiable imports and the approach of free trade, with general financial distress, gave the Whigs success in the elections of 1840; and in 1841 they set about reviving protection. Unluckily for them, their chosen President, Harrison, was dead, and his successor, Tyler, a Democrat by nature, taken up for political reasons by the Whigs, was deaf to Whig eloquence on the subject of the tariff. After an unsuccessful effort to secure a high tariff ...
— American Eloquence, Volume IV. (of 4) - Studies In American Political History (1897) • Various
... may be slightly applicable," said the Elector, "and as far as the Augean stable is concerned. I, too, have my stable to cleanse; only it belongs not to Augias, but to Schwarzenberg. Still, I will try to purify it. But I must set about my undertaking with dexterous hands; of that, however, let us speak hereafter. I shall first consider your simile, drawn from the story of Hercules. Do you know, Leuchtmar, the names of my twelve tasks, and their extent? I ask you once more, do you know who I am, or, rather, what my name ...
— The Youth of the Great Elector • L. Muhlbach
... from open country to a shady park, set about with buvettes and beer gardens; ran through a massive gateway, and were in the heart of Madrid. Electric trams whizzed confusingly round us, and far above the hubbub of such traffic loomed proudly a hill crowned with an enormous ...
— The Car of Destiny • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
... have got wind of the fact that he was after them, and they evidently made up their minds to get rid of him. They seem to have set about it rather neatly. The man with the scar, who is either one of them or else in with them, introduced himself to Latimer as a member of the French Secret Service. He pretended that he had some special information about the case in hand, and although Latimer was a bit suspicious, ...
— A Rogue by Compulsion • Victor Bridges
... the same. About half of them were on the boom, when the movement was reported to the officer of the deck by the midshipman on duty in the waist. Shuffles rushed forward, now understanding, for the first time, the intentions of Wilton; and true to the inspiration of fidelity, he set about defeating the object of ...
— Outward Bound - Or, Young America Afloat • Oliver Optic
... that kind of poor creature a Lais of the intellect. You have been taken in like a boy. If you doubt it, you can have proof of it tonight, this morning, this instant. Go up to her, try the demand as an experiment, insist peremptorily if it is refused. You might set about it like the late Marechal de Richelieu, and get nothing for ...
— The Thirteen • Honore de Balzac
... down to the workyard the first thing in the mornin', before daylight, and engage to go off to work at the Bell Rock. You'll keep all snug and quiet, and nobody'll be a bit the wiser. You'll be earnin' good wages, and in the meantime I'll set about gettin' things in trim to ...
— The Lighthouse • Robert Ballantyne
... Afterward, we set about the hatching of that article—the thought of it sickens me even now. You will find it in the volume along with the others; you may see how I lugged in Callan's surroundings, his writing-room, his dining-room, the romantic arbour in which he found it easy to write ...
— The Inheritors • Joseph Conrad
... came the famous Synod of Cambridge, the first ever held in New England, in which the Church set about defining its own position and denouncing the Hutchinsonians. Eighty-two heresies were decided to have arisen, all of which were condemned, and this being settled, Cotton was admonished, and escaped exile only by meekly ...
— Anne Bradstreet and Her Time • Helen Campbell
... had wickedly lent him for the special purpose; he was a tall bay animal, with long small legs, a switch tail, and didn't know how to trot. Maybe we didn't cut a dash—and might have taken a town before us. Out we set about nine o'clock, and went acrass the country: but I'll not stop to mintion what happened some of them, even before we got to the bride's house. It's enough to say here, that sometimes one in crassing a stile or ditch would drop into the shough;** sometimes another would ...
— The Ned M'Keown Stories - Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of - William Carleton, Volume Three • William Carleton
... lien of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, the countships of Champagne, Nevers, Rethel, Eu, and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the estates of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories of Charles were to be exempt from homage. Yes, and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in France and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial interests forgotten; "to the duchess his sister (to the Flemings) is accorded permission, to take from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, and to carry thither ...
— Charles the Bold - Last Duke Of Burgundy, 1433-1477 • Ruth Putnam
... Jesuits, where he had heard much of their discoveries of Japan; he had looked over their maps, and listened to their comments. He forgot the manner in which the Japanese wrote; but supposed, like orientalists, they wrote from the right to the left, which he found difficult to manage. He set about excogitating an alphabet; but actually forgot to give names to his letters, which afterwards baffled ...
— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Isaac D'Israeli
... Jacob, desiring Smoker to go home, set about flaying and cutting up the animal for its more convenient transportation. In an hour and a half, Edward, attended by Smoker, returned with the pony, on whose back the chief portion of the venison was packed. Jacob took ...
— The Children of the New Forest • Captain Marryat
... set about concoction of a moving sonnet in praise of Monna Vittoria de' Pazzi. Desperation loaned him extraordinary eloquence (as he complacently reflected) in addressing this obdurate woman, who had held out against his love-making for six ...
— Domnei • James Branch Cabell et al
... myself,' she said, checking her laugh and speaking hastily and nervously 'I met your little boy and girl in a 'bus and heard them say they had come out to look for a governess. Of course they had not the smallest idea how to set about it, so I took them to a very good registry. I fancied you must have been wanting to have one from what they said, and then, as we were all talking about it, I wondered if I could undertake the situation myself. I am very anxious to earn something, as ...
— 'Me and Nobbles' • Amy Le Feuvre
... of a cucumber hill, thrown over the plant in the fall, protects it effectually against the cold of winter. When the danger of frost is over in the spring, they uncover it, and begin its culture. There is a great deal of this in the neighborhood of Toulon. The plants are set about eight feet apart, and yield, one year with another, about two pounds of caper each, worth on the spot six pence sterling the pound. They require little culture, and this may be performed either with the plough or hoe. ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson
... hung it on the nail in the living-room, while Sheldon, who had been lurking about for the sheer joy of seeing her perform that particular home-coming act, sighed, too, with satisfaction. But the home- coming was not all joy to him, for Joan set about nursing Tudor, and spent much time on the veranda where he lay in the hammock under ...
— Adventure • Jack London
... Company, he and Rathbury had discovered one of the old silver tickets of Market Milcaster racecourse, and that he, Spargo, had come to Market Milcaster, with the full approval of his editor, in an endeavour to trace it. How was he going to set about this difficult task? ...
— The Middle Temple Murder • J.S. Fletcher
... of Warchester, was the chief advocate of the three counties. He had studied law with the late Senator Sprague, and, at his death, from partner succeeded to his lucrative law practice. He came at once to Washington at Mrs. Sprague's summons, and set about learning the status of the case. The affair was no easy matter to trace, but, after inconceivable delays and persistent misleading, he found that Jack was in the military archives charged with desertion, murder, and treason: desertion in quitting his company and regiment without ...
— The Iron Game - A Tale of the War • Henry Francis Keenan
... they have real estate possessions, the men of England know how to protect game from extermination. The English are good at protecting game—when they decide to set about it. ...
— Our Vanishing Wild Life - Its Extermination and Preservation • William T. Hornaday
... 'Then we had best set about our part of the contract,' said Hector Marot. With the aid of our troopers he carried out the four dragoons and our dead sergeant, and laid them on the ground some way down the lane, leading the horses all round and between their bodies, so as to trample the ...
— Micah Clarke - His Statement as made to his three Grandchildren Joseph, - Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 • Arthur Conan Doyle
... the guns of others broken. By ten o'clock, however, there were nine volunteers, very irregularly armed and mounted, in attendance; by eleven o'clock, thirteen, and Alfred Barton, whose place as leader was anything but comfortable, began to swell with an air of importance, and set about examining the guns of his command. Neither he nor any one else noticed particularly that the Irish ostler appeared to be a great connoisseur in muskets, and was especially interested in the structure of the ...
— The Story Of Kennett • Bayard Taylor
... depend upon me, Sir Mark," said Guest eagerly; and he set about his task at once, greatly to ...
— Witness to the Deed • George Manville Fenn
... negotiable property is a man without freedom, and the extent of his property is very largely the measure of his freedom. Without any property, without even shelter or food, a man has no choice but to set about getting these things; he is in servitude to his needs until he has secured property to satisfy them. But with a certain small property a man is free to do many things, to take a fortnight's holiday when he chooses, for example, and to try this new departure from his work or that; with ...
— A Modern Utopia • H. G. Wells
... inhabitants fled to their colonies. The great city of Tyre, being on an island, defied the invader, and finally the Assyrian king gave up and withdrew to his own country. Having realized at great cost that he could not subdue the Phoenicians without a navy, he set about finding one. By means of bribes and threats he managed to seduce three Phoenician cities to his side. These furnished him sixty ships officered by Phoenicians, but ...
— A History of Sea Power • William Oliver Stevens and Allan Westcott
... that the dog was to be delivered to Joel Pepper, who was to bring it to the master's house; and although there wasn't a line or even a word to show any disapproval of his course, Mr. Parr felt, as he set about obeying it, as if somehow he had made ...
— Five Little Peppers at School • Margaret Sidney
... kind of materials available to it, it nevertheless had a dim inkling that this picture, because it lacked all dynamic content, had no bearing on the real nature of the universe. Unable to find this reality within himself, the world-onlooker set about searching in his own way for what was missing, and turned to the perceptible world outside man. Here he came, all unexpectedly, upon ... electricity. Scarcely was electricity discovered than it drew human scientific thinking irresistibly into its own realm. Thereby man found himself, with a consciousness ...
— Man or Matter • Ernst Lehrs
... concatenation of his ideas—which were rather limited in number—he recurred once more to the accident, and set about telling the story over again with all the ...
— A Comedy of Marriage & Other Tales • Guy De Maupassant
... hit out effectively from the shoulder. One of the ushers, a dwarf of malignant disposition, was an awful tyrant, and we always had an ardent desire to tar and feather him, only we did not know how to set about the operation even if we had ...
— The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent • S.M. Hussey
... declared that half his fortune should be Manuel's if he could but save the Princesse de Lamballe and the ladies who were in the same prison with her from the general massacre. Manuel promised the Duke that he would instantly set about removing them all from the reach of the blood-hunters. He began with those whose removal was least likely to attract attention, leaving the Princesse de Lamballe, from motives of policy, to ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre
... very tedious passage to the Cape Verd Islands, being detained by storms and contrary winds in the Bay of Biscay, so that we did not reach St. Jago till the 8th of March. I immediately set about purchasing the asses, corn, hay, &c. and succeeded so well that on the 18th I had embarked forty-four asses with plenty of corn and hay. The master of the transport declared that he could not receive any more consistently with the safety of the vessel. We sailed for Goree on the 21st. ...
— The Journal Of A Mission To The Interior Of Africa, In The Year 1805 • Mungo Park
... did not make the smallest impression. He then remembered that he had never waited to ask how he was to get back to earth again, and understood the danger in which he stood. Luckily, he did not lose his head, and set about examining the horse's neck with great care, till at last, to his intense joy, he discovered a tiny little peg, much smaller than the other, close to the right ear. This he turned, and found him-self dropping to the earth, though more slowly than he ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments • Andrew Lang.
... caused a confession ever to be made. Kalleligak, now convinced that the spirit of his dead chief knew he was the murderer, believed it would haunt him without mercy, and that his own life might be immediately forfeit unless he could appease it. He therefore at once set about preparations for a funeral befitting the dignity of the deceased; which, in the absence of Kaiachououk's eldest son, he himself personally supervised. When all was over he went to the igloo carrying gifts, and offered to support the entire family till the sons should be of an age to assume it. ...
— Labrador Days - Tales of the Sea Toilers • Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
... care—I don't care!" he moaned, and desperately set about untying his left boot to get at the other fifty. "The devil will toss me into the flames on his three-pronged fork for this night's work, I know! But perhaps I shall win yet, and then I'll get a wife to sit up with me o' nights, and I won't be afeard, I won't! Here's another for'ee, my ...
— The Return of the Native • Thomas Hardy
... the gate thereof, as an expiatory offering to the Messiah for myself and for her." The King granted his request and bade the priests and monks and patriarchs marry the Princess to him; so they did his bidding, whereupon he bade set about building a strong and lofty palace, befitting her rank and the workmen fell to work upon it. On this wise it betided the Princess Miriam and her sire and the one-eyed Wazir; but as regards Nur al-Din, when he came back with the petticoat-trousers ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 8 • Richard F. Burton
... or swore, or lost his poise, or manifested the slightest impatience. He set about his task coolly, carefully, skillfully, and ...
— The Foolish Virgin • Thomas Dixon
... culture, domestic science, etc., are not taught in your schools and you wish your children to get some of the advantages of these studies, how will you set about it? ...
— Study of Child Life • Marion Foster Washburne
... Shall we not settle the question here, and not trouble the rest of the Union with it? We will settle it fairly and squarely. It is too small a matter to get mad about—to set about destroying the Union. Why quarrel over such a simple question? No, gentlemen, you shall not do it. I am going to talk to you as individuals—as men—as patriots. I know too many of you and too much about you. You love your country too well to destroy her for such a cause. You are ...
— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden
... I cannot seem to feel ashamed of it. I admit at once that not the least part of my pleasure in my flowers is the attention they get from others. Moreover, it is not only from friends that I seek this, but from every passer-by along my country road. There are gardens and gardens. Some, set about with hedges tall and thick, offer the delights of exclusiveness and solitude. But exclusiveness and solitude are easily had on a Connecticut farm, and my garden will none of them; it flings forth its appeal to every wayfarer. And I ...
— More Jonathan Papers • Elisabeth Woodbridge
... heretics, while the proposals that had been made for an extension of the powers of the Council of State and for the summoning of the States-General were refused. As soon as these fateful decisions were known, and the Inquisition began to set about its fell work in real earnest, the popular indignation knew no bounds. A large number of the magistrates refused to take any part in the cruel persecution that arose, following the example of Orange, Egmont, Berghen and others of the stadholders and ...
— History of Holland • George Edmundson
... prize, and to put them off the scent, suggested that some one nearby may have been meddling with the matter and that they leave a warning for them. I feel rather certain he must have done this to gain time, for he knew that if I had found the thing, I would immediately set about having him released, and he must have wondered why I hadn't done so. Perhaps he thought I was having difficulty locating the house where they had him hidden. But, Great Scott!—that makes me think!—They must by this time have discovered the trick you played, Miss ...
— The Dragon's Secret • Augusta Huiell Seaman
... dinner under way, the bo'sun set about preparing our camp for the night, which we did by making a rough framework with the reeds, over which we spread the boat's sails and the cover, pegging the canvas down with tough splinters of the reed. When this was completed, we set-to and carried there all our stores, ...
— The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" • William Hope Hodgson
... home. She had Moze, which was more than many of her acquaintances had. She would not use it, but she had it. And she was content in the knowledge of the power to create a home when she felt inclined to create one. Not that it would not have been absurd to set about creating a home with Mr. Gilman hanging over her like a destiny. It would have been rude to him to do so; it would have been to transgress against the inter-sexual code as promulgated by Madame ...
— The Lion's Share • E. Arnold Bennett
... there, we are told, God met him and a voice said, "Go, and build my church again." It was a "thought beyond his thought," and with the straightforward simplicity of his nature he accepted the message in its literal sense and at once set about obeying it as he ...
— The Coming of the Friars • Augustus Jessopp
... the fact. I am, dear boy, on my last legs," said Challoner. "Besides the clothes in which you see me, I have scarcely a decent trouser in my wardrobe; and if I knew how, I would this instant set about some sort of work or commerce. With a hundred pounds for capital, a ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... That is just the trouble. Therefore we are forced to set about getting some oil back into it; otherwise it would be so harsh and stiff that we could do nothing with it. So we put the thin layers of wool into these machines and carry them along to a spraying apparatus which sprays them evenly with oil. We use ...
— The Story of Wool • Sara Ware Bassett
... door open and entered quietly, glancing cautiously about until he had assured himself that it was empty. Then he pushed the door to and fastened it with the bolt. This done, he set about examining the building curiously. At the end, towards the rising sun, was an elevation of three steps which made him think of the raised dais that ran across the end of Powhatan's ceremonial lodge. This was lined with the ...
— The Princess Pocahontas • Virginia Watson
... become aware that whatsoever her husband set about doing he did swiftly and with inflexible purpose. There was no malingering or doubtful hesitation. Once his mind was made up, he acted, Thus, upon the third day from the land staking they bore away eastward from the clearing, across a trackless ...
— North of Fifty-Three • Bertrand W. Sinclair
... is a romancing, straightfor'ard, honest chap, he's to be had, and as a husband, if you set about catching him in ...
— Jude the Obscure • Thomas Hardy
... of his lifetime, he told himself, as he hastened to deposit the chest in the sled. Now he set about obtaining his blankets and provisions. His journey would be an arduous one, and nobody knew better than he the barrenness of that Northwestern land while the icy grip of winter still clings. A large quantity of the food stuffs which had only arrived ...
— In the Brooding Wild • Ridgwell Cullum
... exist in Paris on an income of several thousand pounds. The young Marquis de Valentin had lived there very happily on L12 a year. In 1826, his father, who had lost his wealth and lands in the Revolution, had died, leaving him L40. Taking a garret in the Rue des Cordiers, he had set about earning his living with his pen, and for three years he had laboured at a great work on "The Theory of the Will." He never went into society, but found a pleasant distraction from his studies in educating the daughter of ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol. I • Various
... of these side pieces are connected across the trough by strips of board; all the slab lagging boards except those at the edges of the girder molds are laid loose. In the building referred to, after the floor concrete had set about seven days the joists carrying the slab lagging were turned a quarter over thus dropping the slab form about 2 ins. A few days later the joists and lagging were taken down and the side pieces of the girder ...
— Concrete Construction - Methods and Costs • Halbert P. Gillette
... mean time, the youth left nigh the postern set about the accomplishment of the task he had undertaken, in sober earnest. Instead of descending in a direct line to the palisadoes, he also ascended, and made a circuit among the out-buildings on the margin of the acclivity. Then bending so low as to blend his form ...
— The Wept of Wish-Ton-Wish • James Fenimore Cooper
... at the same time sharp, words of command from the captain aroused his officers from the stupefaction of horror which had begun to creep over them, and this handful of men, who even then were standing face to face with death, set about ...
— The Boys of '98 • James Otis
... "Rain no come up. Me think it wind. P'raps sand. Me no like it." He set about building a little fire for breakfast, and though his companions were not in the least bit hungry, they followed his example and ate some damper and dried meat. Each man was allowed half a quart-pot of tea. Sax and Vaughan drank theirs with the meal, but Yarloo took a few sips and then put ...
— In the Musgrave Ranges • Jim Bushman |
